‘View in Broken Bay New South Wales. March 1788' by William Bradley (from his journal), courtesy the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
After an introduction by Neil Evers of the ASGMWP, Julian Leeser MP, Tim Rowse, Emeritus Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, and Dr Jeff McMullen AM, Journalist and author, who has worked tirelessly to help improve health, education, and access to human rights for Australia's First People, spoke at length about the changes proposed for the Australian Constitution
Film maker John Illingsworth kindly taped the evening and shares the video below of the full discussion.
The AEC has also made available official referendum booklet, which contains:
the Yes/No referendum pamphlet, which contains the Yes and No cases prepared by parliamentarians who voted for and against the proposed law. This has not been amended or fact checked by the AEC.
the official guide, which provides information on where to vote, what happens at the polling place, and what the ballot paper looks like. This was written by the AEC.
That is available to download if you have not received a copy in your letterbox at: www.aec.gov.au/referendums/learn/your-official-referendum-booklet.html and includes translated versions for those whose first language is not English.
The AEC has also made available information on completing the ballot paper.
At a referendum, you will receive a ballot paper with the proposed alteration to the Constitution on it, followed by a question asking if you approve the proposed alteration. On the referendum ballot paper you need to indicate your vote by clearly writing:
- YES in the box if you approve the proposed alteration, OR
- NO in the box if you do not approve the proposed alteration.
Practise voting - Referendum
You can use this sample ballot paper to practise voting in a Referendum. Submit the answer that you have written in the box to see if your answer will result in a formal vote.
Referendum voting day will be Saturday 14 October 2023.
Early voting centres will be open in the two weeks prior to referendum day.
Julian Leeser MP has said the Voice was not about special privileges. “It is about recognising that Indigenous Australians are our brothers and sisters, and we have left them behind in our shared national project.
Keeping faith with the First Peoples of this land, who want to have a stake in their own future, with a structural change in our constitution to help improve the quality of their lives.”
Julian Leeser MP said the Voice was not about special privileges. “It is about recognising that Indigenous Australians are our brothers and sisters, and we have left them behind in our shared national project.
Keeping faith with the First Peoples of this land, who want to have a stake in their own future, with a structural change in our constitution to help improve the quality of their lives.”
Mr Leeser joined the Liberal Party in 1992 and served as vice-president of the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division) from 2015 to 2016. He was elected to parliament at the 2016 federal election, succeeding the retiring Philip Ruddock in the Division of Berowra.
After the 2019 election Leeser became chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs. After the 2022 election, he was elevated to Peter Dutton's shadow ministry as the Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians. He was identified as a member of either the moderate or centre-right faction of the Liberal Party.
On the 11th of April 2023, Mr. Leeser resigned from the opposition cabinet after the Liberal Party resolved to oppose the Voice to parliament referendum.
Tim Rowse, Emeritus Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, has written many articles for the “Inside Story”: Telling truths, see: https://insidestory.org.au/telling-truths
“The true history of colonisation” includes not only “the genocides, the massacres, the wars and the ongoing injustices and discrimination” but also “stories of how First Nations Peoples have contributed to protecting and building this country.” - Prof. Rowse
What's happening this year has been worked towards since the last referendum we had in 1967, as worked on by Bill Wentworth, the first ever Mackellar MP.
First Australian campaigners meet with Prime Minister Harold Holt seeking support for the 1967 referendum. Left to right: Gordon Bryant MP, Faith Bandler, Prime Minister Harold Holt, Douglas Nicholls, Burnum Burnum (Harry Penrith), Winnie Branson, William Wentworth MP
Readers may recall when Alwyn Doolan passed through Pittwater in January 2019 carrying a messages stick of Reconciliation on his way to the big meeting of peoples from our First Custodians.
Alwyn had walked around 5000 kilometres in eight and a half months by the time he reached here, landing just south of one of the few places named by the First Peoples of this place, Barranjoey/Barrenjuee - one of the few words we have left from that pre-European time, meaning 'young kangaroo' or 'little kangaroo' - a wallaby. Alwyn planned to walk Victoria and Tasmania as part of the journey. By August 2020, when he joined in the First Nations People Yarning Circle at Uluru, he had walked for more than two years and covered more than 8500 kilometres.
Alwyn's odyssey is considered the longest walk in modern Aboriginal history: through 50 First Nations communities from Cape York to Canberra via Tasmania. Walking with a message stick, offering this to the Government (who declined meeting him), he is named by his traditional Gooreng Gooreng Elders as "Wunyungar".
This was from his Message Stick Walk Facebook page that Summer:
Let’s create the choices
Let’s create the changes
Let’s take responsibility
Let’s take opportunities
Keep our spirit alive
Keep our fire burning
Keep being strong
Keep being proud
Make HEALING Great
At Palm Beach Alwyn was greeted by young Taimana, a local, and walked with The Message Stick Walk flag. Photos: AJG/PON
Neil Evers greets Alwyn. Photo: AJG/PON
The AEC advises that the question that will be put to voters is whether to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
The Parliament of Australia has agreed to propose adding a new chapter, Chapter IX-Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to the Constitution. The chapter would include a new section 129, which would be as follows:
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
i. there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
ii. the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
iii. the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Below runs John Illingsworth's film of the ASGMWP hosted Voice discussion, below that is the Uluru statement as first presented and read by Megan Davis on May 26th 2017, also kindly made available through the hard work of Mr. Illingsworth - thanks John!
If you have been getting inundated with all kinds of opinions and misinformation targeted to fulfil others agendas, or finding racism again on the rise in our community and would like to rebut that, there is some clarity on what is being discussed by those with real expertise in constitutional law and defining what the real object of campaigners is, at: https://theconversation.com/au/voice, along with a piece by Anne Twomey, Professor emerita, University of Sydney.
Prof. Anne Twomey has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and sometimes does consultancy work for governments, Parliaments and inter-governmental bodies. She was a member of the Constitutional Expert Group, which advised the Commonwealth Government's Referendum Working Group on the wording of the proposed referendum. Prof. Twomey is also a part-time consultant for Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers.
This page will be kept available for the next four weeks, including Saturday October 14, so you can refer to the information collated.
Australians will vote in a referendum on October 14. What do you need to know?
Anne Twomey, University of SydneyAustralians will go to the polls on October 14 to vote in a referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. We have not voted in a federal referendum since 1999. So what do you need to know?
How is a referendum run?
A referendum is run by the Australian Electoral Commission in the same way as they do elections. That means most people will vote in a polling booth on Saturday October 14 at a local school or community centre. There will probably be a barbecue, with a democracy sausage or two, and a cake stall if you are lucky.
But there will also be pre-poll voting and postal voting, just like in an ordinary election. Voting in a referendum, like an election, is compulsory.
One difference will be that there will only be one ballot paper, and it will be short and easy to fill out. So the queues at polling booths should move quickly.
What will I be voting on?
A referendum is used to ask the Australian people whether they approve of a change being made to Commonwealth Constitution, which is Australia’s ultimate law.
In this case, the amendment doesn’t change existing words, but instead adds new words to the Constitution. If passed, the amendment would insert a new Chapter IX at the end of the Constitution, saying:
Chapter IX — Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
(i) there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
(ii) the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
(iii) the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Despite the rather confusing public debate about other issues, all that voters are being asked to do in a referendum is decide whether or not the above words should be inserted in the Constitution.
What is the question and how do I fill in the ballot paper correctly?
The ballot paper does not contain the words of the amendment you will be voting on, as in many cases the amendment would be far too long.
Instead, voters are asked to approve the amendment as set out in the proposed law that has been already passed by parliament. That proposed law is identified by its “long title’, which gives a brief description of its nature. In this case, voters will be asked:
A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?
A single box is then provided, and you fill in your ballot paper by either writing "yes” or “no” in that box.
While there are some “savings provisions” that allow votes in other forms to be counted if the voter’s intention is clear, it is best not to risk it. Just follow the directions and vote “yes” or “no” to ensure your vote counts.
If you want to see a copy of the amendment when you are voting, you could bring with you the pamphlet outlining the “yes” and “no” cases that the Australian Electoral Commission is currently sending to each household. It sets out the amendment and the arguments either way.
Giving an informed vote is important. The people who wrote the Constitution entrusted us with the final say about changes to Australia’s most important law, in the expectation that we would perform our constitutional duty responsibly. We shouldn’t betray that trust.
How is the outcome of the referendum determined and when will we know?
All the votes given in polling booths will be counted by hand on the night, so the results should come in pretty quickly, as it is a single ballot paper with a simple “yes” or “no” choice. Pre-poll votes and those postal votes that have already been received will also be counted on the night.
That means we should get a good idea of the result on the night, but if it is very close, we would have to wait some days until the rest of the postal votes arrive and are counted.
All votes go through two counts to double-check results and the counting process can be watched by scrutineers.
Unlike an election, there is a special double majority that has to be met for a referendum to pass.
First, a majority of formal votes across the country (including in the territories) would need to be “yes” votes.
Second, there would have to be a majority of “yes” votes in at least four out of six states (for which territory votes do not count). This means, for example, that 60% of voters in the country could vote “yes”, but the referendum could still fail if a majority of voters in three of the less populous states voted “no”.
What happens if the referendum passes or fails?
If the referendum passes, it is then sent to the governor-general, who gives assent to it. Once that happens, the amendment to the Constitution is made.
The amendment says “there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice”. But it also says legislation is needed to determine the composition of the Voice and how it operates. The next step would be consultation about such matters before legislation is enacted to give effect to the Voice.
If the referendum fails, no change to the Constitution is made.
Anne Twomey, Professor emerita, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.